Inuyasha's Greatest Foe
by Light-Eco-Sage
Summary: Naraku is child's play compared to one little mortal animal. Maybe next time Inuyasha hunts he'll look before he leaps. A silly little one shot. Rated for language.


**Inuyasha's Greatest Foe**

**By: Light-Eco-Sage**

**Rated: Teen for language.**

**Summary: Naraku is child's play compared to this new foe. Inuyasha has never faced a foe like this before and, hopefully, he never will again. All his strength is useless when faced with a regular mortal animal about the size of a cat…**

**Disclaimer: **_**Inuyasha**_** is owned by Rumiko Takahashi.**

**LES: It is a well-known fact that dogs are rather slow learners. That is what inspired this silly little one-shot. I don't even know if this animal can be found in Japan at all. But the idea was simply too great to pass up, so you'll have to suspend your disbelief and take this story for what it is: a goofy humor story that is not meant to be taken seriously.**

* * *

Inuyasha wanted to _die_.

That, in itself, was unusual. Being an Inuhanyou, death had been on Inuyasha's mind since he was old enough to understand that a vast majority of the fuckers sharing life with him didn't want him to continue existing. But, even at his lowest point, he never did anything more than think that if he ever did come across a foe that was too powerful for him… he'd be okay with death.

This was different. He'd never ever considered taking the coward's way out of life. He'd live, if only to spite the assholes who called for his death. But now, he wanted to die. He wanted to raise his claws to his own throat, slit open the skin, and let himself bleed out until he passed from this life.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. I'll bet you are more interested in how Inuyasha came to his suicidal conclusions rather than the fact that he had them. It was a shock that the event that caused them happened only a few minutes prior.

* * *

It seemed to be your average quest day. The group were all near Kaede's village, waiting for rumors that would hopefully point them in Naraku's direction. Inuyasha would be the first to admit that he was not the best option for gathering information. People tended to take one look at him and his obvious demonic appearance and they would clam up. He was only effective if he was at Miroku's side or Kagome's side on the rare occasion that she wore a miko's garments. Then people assumed that he was an Inugami under their control and would usually talk to avoid having his 'masters' set the captive Inugami on them. But Kagome was not there, nor was she in any sort of garment that would be considered fit for a miko. And Miroku was using the excuse of 'gathering intelligence' to flirt with women. In that case, Inuyasha's presence was more of a hindrance than a boon. Nor did Inuyasha feel like attaching himself to Miroku while he got the village women (and Sango) mad at him again. He'd learned from a life on the run that the less trouble he got involved with, the better.

So, with little else to do, he decided that he would go hunting for his dinner in the forest, but he had no intention of letting the humans know where he was going.

Shippou and Kirara would understand, but there was no way the humans would understand the food cravings that he'd inherited from his father. Being half-human, he enjoyed the taste of human food and did eat it when it was available, unlike his full-Youkai brother. But he was also half-Youkai and he sometimes developed a craving for raw, bleeding meat.

A human would probably turn their nose up at uncooked meat, but Inuyasha was built to handle it. And he occasionally needed to sink his fangs into something really bloody.

Whenever he got the craving in the past, he'd go hunt, satisfy the craving, wash up in a river, and be back without any of the humans being the wiser. Sometimes he'd bring something back for Shippou and Kirara, who craved raw meat just as powerfully as he did.

So he took off into the woods that had been named after him during his fifty-year enchantment to the Goshinboku, focusing all of his senses on the hunt.

Finally, he caught the sounds of a small animal moving through the underbrush. Inuyasha sank into a low predator's crouch and inched his way closer while making not a single sound to alert his prey to his presence. He couldn't see it, but that didn't matter to him. Inu, and Inuyoukai did not depend on their eyesight as much as humans. Inuyasha could hear the animal and smell the animal. It would not be getting away from him.

When he was within leaping distance, he paused for a moment, used his ears to gage the distance between him and his prey and leapt!

He saw the animal in a flash of black and had landed on top of it before he realized what an awful mistake he had just made. Even having an Inuhanyou land on top of it, the animal was not afraid of him. It had no reason to be afraid of him because no sane animal would mess with this creature. It had the ultimate weapon.

It was a skunk.

Inuyasha tried to back-pedal, but the skunk was not in a forgiving mood. With the sort of accuracy that would make a sharp-shooter proud, it nailed Inuyasha right between the eyes with its ultimate weapon.

Then Inuyasha smelled it, and his brain almost shut down instantly. Never, in his entire long life, had he smelled anything that came even close to being as revolting as the liquid the skunk had just sprayed on him. It was like every awful smell that he'd ever smelled rolled into one and multiplied by a thousand.

Inuyasha screamed, but it was not a human scream. It was an utterly dog-like _yelp_ of terror, not too dissimilar from the sound the average house dog makes when a human accidentally steps on its paw.

He almost passed out, but the only thing that stopped him from passing out was the knowledge that it would not let him escape the smell. It was all over him now, and it was putrid!

He wanted to run for the hills in a mad attempt to escape the smell. He wanted to tear his nose off his face and never smell again. _He wanted to die._

The skunk waddled away, confidant that it had taught the Inuhanyou a lesson he would never forget.

* * *

Kagome sighed in annoyance as she looked around the village for Inuyasha. She had just gotten back from her time, and Sango had found a few promising rumors. She knew that Inuyasha would want to take off immediately, but he was nowhere to be found. Even the feeling of his youki was diminished. She knew he was nearby, but it was so subdued that she couldn't pinpoint his location.

And then she heard that awful sound… the sound of a dog screaming in pain coming from Inuyasha's Forest. Her first thought was that one of the villager's dogs had gotten loose and hurt in the forest. But then she realized that no ordinary dog's voice could carry that far and still be that loud. Something much bigger than a dog had made that noise.

It could be an Inuyoukai, or it could be Inuyasha. But she could not imagine any of those options being correct. Neither a true Inuyoukai nor Inuyasha would make a pain sound like that. So she was driven to check it out. But she wasn't stupid about it. She grabbed her bow and arrows just in case.

She didn't make it all the way to the forest before her nose was assaulted by the vilest scent she'd ever smelled. She recognized it right away. It was the smell of a skunk, but much stronger than she'd ever smelled it before. "Oh God." She gasped, holding her nose and glancing around nervously for the animal.

And then she spotted Inuyasha. She was instantly concerned because he didn't seem to be reacting to the smell, at least at first sight. On second glance, she could see that he was utterly suffering. She'd never seen him this utterly _broken_ before. He was visibly trembling and he almost seemed to have the beginnings of small tears in his eyes. "Help." He said simply in a tiny voice.

It took Kagome only a moment to realize that _Inuyasha_ was the source of the smell and she realized what had happened. "Oh God! Just… uh… stay right here, Inuyasha! I'll go back to my time and bring back something that will help!" And she took off running.

* * *

She brought back cans and cans of a mixture to get rid of the skunk smell. Contrary to popular belief, tomato juice was not the best way to get rid of the smell of skunk. Thankfully, her mother had stopped her from buying a shopping cart full of tomato juice and taught her what really works. It took her several trips through the well to bring everything back.

And Inuyasha spent the next several hours miserable in a tub on the outskirts of the village while everyone stayed well back while waiting for the smell to lessen. That didn't stop Miroku from coming to have a good laugh at him, asking if he'd learned his lesson because dogs were notorious for never learning their lesson from getting sprayed by a skunk.

The Inuhanyou got his revenge in the end. He used one of Miroku's spare travel robes to wash his face where the skunk had sprayed him and let the scent transfer to the cloth. And then he folded it neatly and returned it to the rest of Miroku's things.

Before long, Miroku and all his belongings were in the tub.

And from that day forward, Inuyasha checked and double-checked before leaping to make sure that he knew exactly what his prey was before attacking.

* * *

**LES: Like I said… utterly silly and not meant to be taken seriously at all. I still hoped you enjoyed it and had a laugh.**


End file.
